1. Field of the Invention
The present invention relates to reflectors in satellite systems, and, more particularly, heating systems for reflectors in satellite systems.
2. Description of the Related Art
An antenna reflector, commonly called a dish, is generally a parabolic section having a round, elliptical or other configuration. A reflector functions to gather radio or microwave frequency energy transmitted from the feed horn or through the ambient environment from an external transmitter. The reflector can thus be used to receive and transmit signals to and from the satellite system. Typical applications include communicating data collected by a point of sale terminal in a store to the central data processing location. In this way, a large company can keep track of its sales and inventory requirements on an instantaneous basis. Maintaining a reliable satellite contact is absolutely essential. Reflectors are usually located outdoors, where snow and ice may collect on the receiving or concave side, degrading the performance of the reflector. If the link fails, store clerks have no way of executing any transactions with a customer. Thus, outages caused by snow and ice accumulation on the antenna reflector and feed are intolerable. In view of this, it is known to install heating apparatuses for deicing antennas in climates where snow and ice can present problems.
An antenna for the satellite terminal is often installed on the roof of the structure. It is extremely expensive to wire power line voltage to the antenna for deicing purposes. Such power line voltage must be carried in a conduit on the outside of the building, or fed through an opening in the roof, making the installation expensive. Also, such a rooftop location is not conveniently accessible.
It is also known to ballast the base of a satellite reflector with sandbags rather than directly attach the reflector to the roof. The sandbags stabilize the reflector and prevent it from being blown over or otherwise losing its desired angular relationship with the satellites with which it communicates. A problem is that such sandbags are messy in that they can leak sand. Sandbags are also quite bulky without serving any other functional purpose.
What is needed in the art is a heating system for a reflector which is internally powered, eliminating the need for power line voltage to be wired to the reflector.